Talking Draft Prospects 2016
 

The Chiefs have some incredibly important free agent decisions to make in the upcoming offseason. A large part of that decision-making process is who they target in the draft and who could ostensibly replace an outgoing high-performer. The Chiefs have all seven of their picks plus an extra 5th.

As a result, it's important to familiarize ourselves with as much of this draft class as possible. I started a thread last offseason that discussed early rounders that was generally well liked and spurred tons of great conversation on all sorts of draft picks, so I'm going to duplicate that idea this year, only discussing all talents, rather than just the high ones. That being said, this will be limited by my attention span and schedule, so while I hope to have 200 prospects fully reviewed/previewed by Draft Day, I'll only get part of the way there.

The OP will be continually updated to show the talent I'm reviewing by position. Keep in mind as I list these players that I am generally listing their round projections, but it is not a strict big board, as I likely won't have a big board put together until late April.

DE Joey Bosa, Ohio State -- Bosa has the size (6'6", 275 lbs) and power to be one of the safest picks in the 2016 NFL Draft. That said, he is never going to be a DPOY candidate, and is instead more likely to churn out decent-to-very-good seasons for ten years. He could tackle better but is sturdy against the run. His hustle is very good, though not elite. Ask yourself how much that's worth? The Rams' Chris Long is the exact same kind of player, has had two very good seasons and has been solid otherwise, and he was taken #2 overall. Bosa is even larger and every bit as strong, but like Long he doesn't have that elite first step or incredible power that Jadaveon Clowney exhibited. Nonetheless, as a pure 4-3 DE, he is a sure thing at an incredibly important position, so while I don't think he'll be the #1 overall as so many right now think he is, I do think he's selected in the top 10 picks.

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State -- RBs should be in for a very good year in the 2016 NFL Draft, as RBs dropped like flies all season and running games collapsed across the league. For teams that run a one-cut zone blocking scheme, Elliott is an ideal player who should contribute right away with little learning curve necessary. A stout, powerful 6'1", 220 lbs runner, Elliott takes long strides to eat up yards in a hurry. He's not particularly elusive and won't blast tacklers, but he'll use decent blocking to get a reliable 4-5 yards a carry (he averaged 6+ YPC in over 500 carries for OSU the past two years). He's a decent receiver with punt return abilities, but will need to hit the jugs machine. He will earn playing time immediately since he is an enthusiastic blocker and protects the ball really well, but he's more of a change-of-pace power hammer in a RBBC rather than a true bellcow. He reminds me of Karlos Williams of the Bills but with more decisive running and a better all around game. Williams went in the 5th, but I think Elliott is a solid 3rd rounder, and very good value in the 4th.

OLB Leonard Floyd, Georgia -- Floyd is dangerously close to dreaded "tweener" territory, but his incredible athleticism should prove to be a boon to a smart DC that can develop him properly. Floyd has the height and frame to be a 3-4 rushbacker (at 6'4", 231 lbs, he is too light, but his frame has tons of room for growth), but his ability to eat up space and play deep coverage would make him an intriguing 4-3 outside linebacker, with his great height able to negate athleticism and height advantages from most tight ends. Despite his career 17 sacks, he doesn't seem to be a particularly great passrusher -- really more of an athlete than any kind of polished passrushing force -- and he holds up unimpressively at the line of scrimmage. His physique reminds me a lot of Eli Harold, who was drafted in the 3rd last year by the 49ers, and spent much of the year in physical and schematic development, failing to record a single snap as a rushbacker. Put about 20 more pounds of muscle on him and you've got the same kind of player that Harold is just now becoming, but honestly Floyd's near-elite athleticism belongs in space. He's going to require some serious development, however. In a 4-3 scheme for a team that can afford to wait, I'd think of him as a 3rd rounder with Jamie Collins upside.

You have no idea wtf you are talking about. Best go back and watch film of this kid. Love your write-ups bro, but this one is just way off. BTW, this is Mizzouri's biggest recruiting mistake possibly ever. Best RB I've ever seen play at OSU, and they've had some gems.

Yeah, I'm in the minority on him at this point.

I welcome the education, but the guy had a shit ton of his work done for him by the OSU OL. They plow pretty much everybody. My opinions change during draft season but right now I think he's overrated.

He honestly reminds me of Latavius Murray. He can make some noise but he's no game breaker.

85 yards. 8.8 seconds. Gamebreaking speed. Unbelievable vision and decisiveness. Ohio State will always have a good offensive line, but Elliott is an even more special back. I watched every play of this kid's career. He runs with power, he can break it outside, and if he hits the second level it is 6. He hits the hole so hard and fast, he makes it look easy. Incredible balance. Makes himself small to fit through tight windows. He picks up blitzes well and just a great blocker overall. If you want to watch a prime example of him running with power, watch him against Notre Dame this year. Running for over 200 yards in 3 straight games didn't happen by accident last year either, especially against Alabama. Might want to watch him against Michigan State last year too. It takes a special back to find the holes and hit them like he does.

He's got very good vision and he's extremely decisive, those are definitely positive traits. I don't see the elite speed, though, but perhaps the Combine will put egg on my face.

Honestly, the Michigan game exemplified for me why Elliott is overrated. He has some damn good runs up the gut, but he doesn't break too many tackles and his food is already chewed for him by OSU's outstanding runblocking. That's not a knock on Elliott, who is a truly well-rounded RB, but it softens the degree of that positive.

My favorite thing about him is his running form is exemplary; he's always finding a way to fall forward with his very good size. Like I said, I think of Latavius Murray is his ceiling, watching him play. This isn't a guy with a ton of moves, he picks a hole and he goes goes goes.

When he runs in the mid 4.4's will that be sufficient?

Sufficient to what? Change my assessment of him?

It's January. I expect my assessment of him will change a handful of times.

So, yes.

Mistake?

Mizzou recruited the holy hell out of the kid. Then Myer swooped in and stole him and he and his dad proceeded to spend the next 4 years trolling Mizzou fans (and negatively recruiting them every chance they got).

**** E-Z-E right in his face.

I'm also probably a little closer to Direkshun on him than you. Definitely fast but I never really saw good vision and I don't think he's as elusive as he's given credit for. That said, the 'good vision' thing doesn't mean he doesn't have it, it's just that I never really saw it. He generally has at least 2 holes to choose from and the 2nd level is usually open for him as well. Murray actually appears to be a pretty decent comp.

Then there's Chris Johnson back before Chris Johnson sucked (then didn't suck). Johnson wasn't elusive or shifty, he was just comically fast. He was generally able to find space or get the edge through raw speed or the threat of same. Guys would have to cheat outside to keep him from getting the edge so he could make that single cut, get into the middle and just accelerate past guys.

I don't think Elliott has Johnson's speed but he's that kind of runner and a little more powerfully built.

But seriously, that guy can still **** himself.

Kind of hard to get a recruit when Meyer offers the dad a job.

Seriously, watch just these 3 games: Michigan State 2014, Alabama 2014, Notre Dame 2015

On the part about catching the ball, he caught 28 of 31 targets. Hardly a slouch. Elliott is a better runner than Todd Gurley. He runs lower and behind his pads.

As for Mizzou, yes, biggest recruiting mistake. You don't let a home-grown talent like that , with parents that are both Mizzou alums, walk away to Ohio State. You just don't. Buy the kid a diamond necklace and an Escalade, I don't care, you just don't let that ****ing happen.

When I have some free time, well, I'll put some video together on why I think he's as good as I say he is and why I think you both are so far off. Probably won't happen today though.

Sorry, but Mizzou recruited Elliott as hard as they have recruited anyone since I've been here. Gabbert, Sheldon, DGB - those guys didn't get as much of a press as Elliott did.

That wasn't a recruiting mistake, it was a loss. And that's going to happen when Urban's willing to put pop on the payroll. And Stacy Elliot - that former alum you're propping up - is the reason we didn't get Ezekiel. He's been a monumental prick and any time he can take a shot at Mizzou, including his playing days here, he takes it. He's an attention whore who openly complained that Ezekiel didn't get enough press attention during his Mizzou visits (despite the university and campus going batshit over him).

Once Meyer got involved, we were drawing dead and it's his dad that largely killed us.

I'm not propping Stacy Elliott up by any means. I'm just saying that something went wrong that Mizzou didn't get that kid. There's something deeper than any of this rah rah bullshit that this kid didn't go to Mizzou. It's not like Urban said "eh I'll give you a job if your kid plays for us," and bam that was it. Stacy Elliott could get a ****ing job and Mizzou could have just as well put the same thing on the table. It's deeper than that. Somewhere along the line, Mizzou ****ed this one up. Lack of media coverage? Nah. Support structure offered at Ohio State versus at Missouri could have been a deciding factor, but sure as hell not media coverage. Ezekiel verbally committed to OSU a year before all this bullshit came out and he's also made it known that media coverage had no effect on his decision.

To top it all off, personal feelings on where he should have went or should not have went should not have any effect on rating him for the NFL. He's a top 10 talent.